Programs for every need

City, private groups stand ready to help

An office temp worker, the Evanston mother received little in the way of benefits. As a result, she needed to return to work not long after giving birth to her second child.

But her dilemma was where to find child-care for her newborn daughter that was dependable and affordable.

When she contacted a few local day-care centers, she was dumbfounded by the cost of full-time child-care for her infant--several hundred dollars a week. (Her other child is in school.)

When the woman acknowledged that she could not afford such a cost, she was referred to the Child Care Network of Evanston, a non-profit social service agency subsidized by Evanston's Department of Health and Human Services. There, she learned her income qualified her for a reduced child-care rate, and she was directed to the Infant Welfare Society's Evanston chapter, which provides such care for newborns.

The agency also was a good choice for the woman logistically.

"She could catch the bus to her temp job right in front of the Infant Welfare Society," said Carol Mullins, interim director of the Child Care Network.

"The woman was very happy with what we could do for her. It not only gave her peace of mind with her newborn, but it got her back to work quickly. If she didn't work, she didn't get paid."

Social service cornucopia

Affordable child-care services are among the many social service needs addressed by Evanston through its programs or community organizations that the city helps subsidize, said Jay Terry, Evanston's director of health and human services.

"We have a very comprehensive array of services. In fact, we have what I could call the broadest array of services found in a city of 74,000 people," Terry said.

"Because of this range of services, some of these things we do ourselves, while we look to others to provide other programs."

For example, the city administers several social service programs:

- The emergency-assistance program, which helps with emergency food and housing and utility payments.

- The long-term care ombudsman program, with the city's Commission on Aging, in which a licensed clinical social worker serves as a problem-solver for the elderly in 12 Evanston nursing homes.

- The Latino ombudsman program, in which a city worker links Evanston's Spanish-speaking population with city services.

Plus, the city has an Americans With Disabilities Act coordinator; a Handyman Program in which the elderly get free help with minor home repair and maintenance; and a subsidized cab ride program for the elderly.

There also is a wide array of health care services available from the city.

City aids 26 agencies

In addition, Evanston provides funding and guidance to 26 community organizations that offer social services.

"By contracting with the organizations, we're able to provide services ranging from child care to drug treatment to legal services," Terry said.

"Clearly, it's an effective way of doing things. There's no way the city could handle all of these programs on our own. And there's no way these organizations could absorb the cost of what they do on their own. So in addition to the funding they get from the state, the United Way and private donations, our dollars are used to supplement these ongoing operations."

A variety of needs

There are a number of reasons that Evanston provides such a variety of social services, Terry said.

"We are a suburb that has a variety of urban-type issues," he said. "Combine that with our history and tradition of caring and a significant low-income population.... We need the organizations we work with," he said.

The city subsidies range from 1 percent to 75 percent of the various agencies' budgets, Terry said.

The mix of agencies allows the city to address long-term and emerging social service needs, Terry said.

For example, two years ago, city officials determined there was a new growing concern on the streets of Evanston.

"Members of the Evanston Mental Health Board pointed out that there was an increasing number of people on the streets who were both mentally ill and substance-abusing," Terry said.

"These clients were different in that they didn't fit in with the traditional way of doing things--they needed mental health services but were also substance-abusing and were identified as people on the street.